Chapter 27: TWENTY-SEVEN

Dining with the dawners Ava didn’t realize how much she’d missed Nani Rosalyn until she saw the woman enter her room with her dinner that evening. She jumped from her bed and ran towards her to hug her, surprising Nani, who had to firm her grip on the tray and shift it to the side so Ava wouldn’t make her drop it.

“Wow! I didn’t know you were such a hugger, Nani chuckled, patting her on the head.

“I’m sorry, I just missed you so much, that’s all. I had to be served by that mean lady Kiara who wasn’t as friendly as you.”

“Kiara is a very nice woman once you get to know her, she’s just passing through a tough phase in her life right now.”

“Oh!” Ava hadn’t even thought of it before judging her attitude, she realized she shouldn’t have done that. No wonder, she’d noticed the lines on Kiara’s face earlier and realized now that she didn’t look happy at all, Nani was right.

“Is everything all right with her?”

“She’s just going through some rough disappointment, but she’ll get through it. Dawn pack members have been through much worse, they are always the strongest so you don’t have to worry about her,” Nani assured.

“Ok.”

“I’ve been out all-day gathering medicines for the pack’s wounded. I would have gone straight to retire for the night when I returned but Kiara told me you wanted to see me for something.”

Ava followed Nani to the dining table and sat down beside her, uncovering her plates.

“There’s just a lot of things that have been going on in my mind lately, and I think you’re the only one that can give me advice on what to do.”

“Eat your food dear, we can talk about it when you’re done.”

Nani waited patiently for Ava to finish her meal, then went on to listen to what she had to say. Ava almost started talking before noticing the tired lines on Nani’s face too, she realized it wasn’t right to keep her here after such a busy day.

“Go and rest Nani, we can talk about it later, maybe tomorrow.”

Nani smiled, liking the girl for being so considerate. “No problem dear, I might not come to serve you tomorrow; you can look for me either in the kitchen or in the healing room when you’re ready.”

“Will the guards let me leave this place?” She didn’t know if she could after what happened yesterday.

“Of course, they will. You should be fine so long as you don’t cross the barrier.” She gave her a stern look which made her hide her face, Ava didn’t know that Nani would find out so soon. “The guards are only there to keep a close watch on you; they aren’t there to restrict your movement within this place.”

“Thank you, Nani.” Boredom would have killed her in the days to come if it weren’t for this information. At least now she could take a walk, let Layla play or even go to the study to read a book, she’d seen the packs large collection on the day of her failed escape and was almost tempted to enter but for her quest for freedom.

“Is there anything else you’ll need?” Nani’s question brought a pending thought to her head.

“Yes, I was wondering if I could stop getting served in my room, if that’s ok. I’m not someone that likes to dine alone.”

“I understand dear, you prefer to dine with the other Dawn members?”

“Yes, and it would be a good chance for me to get to know them, I think.”

“Well, the Dawners are a very diverse group of people from different areas. They do not have much in common, so they don’t usually have plenty gatherings. But you can still join the few who gather to eat.”

“Yes, I’d like that,” Ava said.

“Very well then, it will be arranged tomorrow.”

“Thank you.”

“Good night, Ava,” Nani said as she picked up the tray of empty plates and stood up to leave.

“Good night, Nani Rosalyn.”

**********

Ava had a hell of a meal today. It truly was a good idea to come out of her room to dine with the others, even though Lucas didn’t join them. Ray always joined the moonlighters to eat, even when he was ordained as the Alpha, she expected Lucas to be here and when she asked the person sitting beside her on the large dining table about it, she’d just shrugged.

“Master always likes to keep to himself, he eats alone and we acknowledge that,” she stated.

At the statement, she felt a small tug at her chest but she didn’t let that get in the way of the fun she had today. She’d met the pack’s beta, Cian, and even the gamma, Filip. The two of them had much more in common than they did with their Alpha who always seemed to be alone. Kiara was also part of the table, but she didn’t spare a glance in Ava’s direction. And of course, she couldn’t forget about two of the pack’s young ones, Jannie and Meeka, twins who were about five years old. They were the only young ones in the pack who joined them at the table today, and Ava couldn’t get enough of the wolfy jokes they told which made everyone laugh, especially Meeka’s who was the loudest. Their mother Suri, couldn’t have been more embarrassed.

After the meal, Ava took a walk with Cian, she loved the personalities of the people she’d met today, and she wanted to know more. Beta Cian was more than happy to let her know.

“The dawn pack is made up of refugees from other packs whose homes were destroyed and burnt down by rogues. Filip and I were from the same pack then, we thought we were finished until we met Lucas, he brought us together, helped us take down the rogues, claimed many lands and gave us shelter, he gave us a new life, and we made him our alpha.”

No wonder, Ava thought. She’d never seen a pack with so many diverse personalities. It explained everything; they weren’t from the same source.

They walked into the garden and as Cian spoke, she thought of how he’d spoken about Lucas, his bravery, his commitment to the Dawners and how he saved their lives, her heart almost moved. He also told her about the different packs the other dawners came from, adding some jokes in between about their different personalities which made her laugh, and then she also felt the need to ask about Kiara.

“What about that lady, Kiara?”

“She and master have a lot more in common, they both have dark histories, worse than ours. The only difference is their gender, she as a woman is more open to people, but Alpha Lucas, well the normal pride and ego every he-wolf instills won’t let him. He keeps it all to himself because he doesn’t want to show his weakness to anyone.”

Lucas had a dark past? “What happened to him?” she couldn’t help but ask.